Hate to drag up an old thread but I'm playing with the helicopters again and I'd really like to take the EXI500 out. To be honest I'm scared to death about the tail blade holder failures. I did replace it with an Align part but I used to see posts about them failing as well so it stays on the shelf. Has there been a solid fix for this yet?

I think part of the problem was people running too high HS. The Align manual warns about going over 2650, if memory serves. With the 500 Pro, they changed the tail drive gear from 31t to 36t, lowering the main to tail ratio, and increasing the permissible HS. with an Align tail rotor, you should be fine, so long as you run sensible HS - eg 13t pinion and 1600kv motor.

Still have two 500's that started out life as EXI CF models. They have gone through several changes. Both have been changed over to TT tail drive after having problems with lockouts due to static. No static problems since. One has been converted over to FBL and the other still sports a fly bar. Both are down right now but soon back on the operating table to live again. The FB heli is in desperate need of a new head/swash assembly. I do miss the low priced EXI assemblies. Where did they all go?

Still have two 500's that started out life as EXI CF models. They have gone through several changes. Both have been changed over to TT tail drive after having problems with lockouts due to static. No static problems since. One has been converted over to FBL and the other still sports a fly bar. Both are down right now but soon back on the operating table to live again. The FB heli is in desperate need of a new head/swash assembly. I do miss the low priced EXI assemblies. Where did they all go?

Atomic, Thanks for the link it will come in handy. Seems like the 500 sized helis are falling out of favor in general and the 550s seem to be more plentiful. I'm going to stick with trying to keep my 500s and 600 airworthy.

FYI Gartt is the same company that makes the Assault 700, HK550, HK500 FBL and HK450 Pro V2. They don't make the other versions of the HK500 and HK450 though, those are made by Skya which is the same company that made the EXI clones. You can tell which is which because the Skya kits have titanium grey parts while the Gartt kits are black and silver.

FYI Gartt is the same company that makes the Assault 700, HK550, HK500 FBL and HK450 Pro V2. They don't make the other versions of the HK500 and HK450 though, those are made by Skya which is the same company that made the EXI clones. You can tell which is which because the Skya kits have titanium grey parts while the Gartt kits are black and silver.